ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Action News Jax has learned the city of St. Augustine will not hold a meeting to vote on an extension to this year’s Nights of Lights season, despite claims from business owners that this year’s schedule for the event has hurt their sales.
Back in March, we told you when the city first voted to start the Nights of Lights on November 15th this year, one week earlier than normal. The city had also voted to end the Nights of Lights on January 11th of 2026, two weeks earlier than its normal ending date.
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In a meeting of the city commission earlier this month, business owners asked the city for a two-week extension to the Nights of Lights, claiming they were seeing a slump in sales and higher costs to keep a full staff on board because of fewer people visiting downtown St. Augustine.
Ashley Babb, a server at Athena Greek Cuisine on Cathedral Place, told Action News Jax that the drop in service has been bad for business.
“We’re definitely seeing less revenue, several thousand dollars less per day,” said Babb, “there’s not as much money being spent because there’s not as high of a quantity of people.”
Babb also believes the city’s decision to raise prices to park in its downtown parking garage from $20 to $40 per day during the Nights of Lights, which was made as an incentive to keep heavy traffic out of downtown. Coupled with the collection of metal barricades blocking off parking spots downtown, Babb believes the changes have kept some people away from the Nights of Lights. She claimed the traffic changes have also been hurting the restaurant’s revenue.
“Even the bigger restaurants have been mad; they’re a lot slower than usual,” Babb said.
Action News Jax also spoke with Noel Holmes, a manager at Prohibition Kitchen on St. George Street, who believes an extension to the Nights of Lights season would help businesses downtown.
“Our numbers are down for sure,” said Holmes, “we’re not seeing the business coming through during the week, especially during that Monday through Friday during the day.”
The city initially decided to change the schedule for the Nights of Lights because of traffic concerns from both businesses and people living in St. Augustine. In a statement, the city said it isn’t extending this Nights of Lights season, in part, because:
“The community relies on and trusts the City Commission to make a decision and stand by it, whether they agree with it or not. While we have received public pushback for not extending the dates for this season, we have also seen public support to keep the dates as they were approved. We can’t please everyone, and we know that. However, we welcome healthy public debate to gauge the impacts of the decision.”
The city told Action News Jax it would consider changing the Nights of Lights season after the current season ends in January. The city said a decision on next year’s schedule could be made as soon as the end of next month.
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